Prosecutor Jeff Dusek alleged that Westerfield abducted Danielle from her bedroom in suburban San Diego late February 1 or early February 2 and took her to his house, two doors away. Her father and two brothers were asleep, and her mother had gone out for the evening.

Her body, discovered February 27, was so decomposed that witnesses said it was impossible to tell if she had been raped. Prosecutors alleged she was sexually assaulted and probably suffocated.

Dusek said matching orange fibers were found in Westerfield's home and on a necklace Danielle had been wearing. A forensic DNA specialist testified that her hair, blood and fingerprints were found in Westerfield's house and in his recreational vehicle parked outside.
(Only in San Diego are dull orange fibers considered a match with bright orange fibers.

Detective: What color was that getaway car again?Witness: It was bright orange, sir.Detective: We'd better put out an APB on that dull orange getaway car.

"No explanation except for guilt. None," Dusek said in closing arguments.
(My explanation would be "illegal gardening" on the part of SDPD.
That theory fills in ALL of the missing blanks.)

San Diego Police Chief David Bejarano credited the quality of the investigation and the thoroughness of the prosecution with the conviction.

"We firmly believed that Mr. Westerfield was that person and I am gratified that the jury looked at all of the evidence and believed so, too."

Her body, discovered February 27, was so decomposed that witnesses said it was impossible to tell if she had been raped. Prosecutors alleged she was sexually assaulted and probably suffocated.
(Alleged? Probably? Where's the science to support the allegations?)

Defense attorney Steven Feldman argued in his closing that the case against Westerfield simply did not hold up.

Much of the defense testimony centered on information from scientists who study bugs on bodies to determine time of death.
(Ahh, the science was on the side of Westerfield and Dusek and Co. were forced to use imagination. But, imagination trumped science this time. Not always, but this time.)

Two forensic entomologists hired by the defense said their analyses suggested Danielle's body was dumped along the desert roadside in mid-February, long after police had placed Westerfield under surveillance.
(They were in agreement with the first entomologist hired by the prosecution, Faulkner.)

The Westerfield trial received extensive national coverage, in part because it is the first case in a series of child abductions and killings this year that has made it to trial.

Danielle's death has been followed by a series of child abduction cases this year, including those of Elizabeth Smart in Utah; Samantha Runnion in California; Cassandra Williamson in Missouri; Erica Pratt in Philadelphia; and two teen-age girls in California last week. Samantha and Cassandra were found dead.

Police arranged to have search warrants in the case sealed by the court, so the media couldn’t find out what investigators took from Westerfield’s home. It was an extraordinary effort to keep the information confidential. And it was a spectacular failure.

Sources close to the investigation started talking about the van Dams’ lifestyle almost immediately. Then came reports of blood in Westerfield’s motor home, and child pornography on his computer.

The cops were furious, according to those same sources. The police department threatened to fire anyone who talked about the case. “They were after the leaks,” a source says.
(At least Pfingst was voted out of office, not fired.)

Police acknowledge being angry over the leaks. “Yeah, we were ****ed off,” says Steve Creighton, an assistant chief. But he says the leaks did not result in any large-scale internal investigation. “It’s not even a blip on the radar screen.”
(Nah, why investigate the sitting DA? He didn't have a shady past, did he?)

June 27, 2002
At 2:30 in the morning on February 5, homicide investigators from the San Diego Police Department are standing outside David Westerfield’s house, preparing to go inside and search it. Sergeant Bill Holmes is one of the cops.
(How long does it take before homicide takes over when there has been no body recovered? 3 days? It happened here, didn't it?)

...Another source sees it differently: “Robbery did all the work, and homicide took all the glory. At one point, they were trying to give it to homicide, but they were backing away, [saying] ‘We don’t have a body yet.’”

Collins explains: "THE ROBBERY SECTION IS IN CHARGE OF INVESTIGATING ALL CRIMES INVOLVING COMMERCIAL ROBBERY, RESIDENTIAL ROBBERY, BANK ROBBERIES, AND KIDNAPPINGS WHERE THE VICTIM IS STILL OUTSTANDING."

Collins:
THE WITNESS: THEY DIDN'T REPORT THAT THEY HAD NOT FOUND ANY BODY, BUT I ASSUME IF THEY HAD THAT THEY WOULD HAVE NOTIFIED ME.

Collins assumed wrong. He wasn't notified about many elements of this tragedy. Maybe they didn't tell him they found a body before the 4th and that's why homicide took over the case.
...Q IS THE FIRST TIME YOU'RE LEARNING THAT THE SAN DIEGO POLICE DEPARTMENT FORENSIC TEAM IDENTIFIED WHAT APPEARED TO BE POTENTIAL BLOOD SPOTS ON THE STAIRWELL TODAY?

MR. DUSEK: OBJECTION; ASKED AND ANSWERED.

THE COURT: OVERRULED.

THE WITNESS: I BELIEVE SO.
(What bloody evidence from the van Dam crime scene suggested Danielle was no longer alive? Bloody blanket, pajamas, purple top, garage threshold, blanket with a pocket? How much blood does the crime scene photos show? How much blood was cleaned up before crime scene photos were taken on day 1? Day 2?)

Q. Now, i've shown you this exhibit, though, 26, and you specifically indicated to the police that basically it was time for the police to please tell your wife that you had let the cat out of the bag with regard to your sexual behaviors, and so it was now okay for her to discuss that, isn't that true?
A. That's true.

Mr. Dusek: Objection, improper impeachment. he said he didn't recall, not that it didn't happen.

the court: Sustained. he doesn't recall.

Recall this:

Q. THEY WERE LOOKING AT DAVID WESTERFIELD, DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIM, HE'S YOUR NEIGHBOR. ANYTHING GENERAL LIKE THAT?
A. I DON'T RECALL.

Q. OKAY. WHEN YOU TELL ME YOU DON'T RECALL, DO YOU MEAN TO COMMUNICATE THAT IT DIDN'T HAPPEN OR YOU DON'T REMEMBER WHETHER OR NOT IT HAPPENED?
A. IT'S TOO SPECIFIC FOR ME TO RECALL WHETHER --

Q. SO COULD IT HAPPEN?
A. THE QUESTION IS VERY GENERAL. I MEAN, THEY COULD HAVE SAID ANYTHING. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT THEY SAID?

Q. ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU DON'T REMEMBER WHAT THEY TOLD YOU?
A. NOT IN SPECIFIC DETAIL, NO.

Remember this:
Q. ULTIMATELY HE KIND OF MADE A JOKE, DIDN'T HE? HE SAID SOMETHING ABOUT WINNING THE LOTTERY. DO YOU REMEMBER THAT?
A. NO, I DON'T, SIR.

Q. IT DIDN'T HAPPEN THEN, DID IT?
A. I DON'T REMEMBER THAT.

Q. WHEN YOU SAY YOU DON'T REMEMBER, DO YOU MEAN TO COMMUNICATE THAT IT DIDN'T HAPPEN OR THAT YOU DON'T REMEMBER WHETHER OR NOT IT HAPPENED?
A. I DON'T REMEMBER WHETHER OR NOT IT HAPPENED.

MAYBE, JUST MAYBE it was a total stranger who abducted seven-year-old Danielle van Dam from her San Diego home almost two weeks ago. Some thug could have picked her parents’ house at random and snuck in during the middle of the night, evading detection despite the home-security system. Somehow, the intruder could have found his way up to Danielle’s bedroom and removed her against her willagain, without being noticed.

Then again, maybe not.

The practical realities and crime statistics less than 1 percent of the 800,000 children reported missing in the U.S. last year were abducted by someone unconnected to the familysuggest otherwise. Yet to judge by the initial coverage of Danielle’s disappearance on national TV, one would think her kidnapping had to be the exception to the rule.

The story, as first told on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Early Show, Larry King Live, and America's Most Wanted, mirrored the account of Danielle’s parents, Brenda and Damon: Brenda was out partying that Friday night with friends at a San Diego nightspot. Damon put the kids to bed around 10. Brenda and her pals showed up around 2:30 and joined Damon for some pizza. The friends then left, and Brenda and Damon went to bed without first checking in on their daughter. They didn’t discover that she was missing until 9 a.m. Saturday morning.

As usual, the story behind the story has been available mostly outside the establishment mediaon the Internet and talk radio.

Last Friday, San Diego talk-show host Rick Roberts presented his listeners with an alternative scenario for what might have happened. According to his "reliable" source "high in law enforcement," (Pfingst) the van Dams are "swingers," and not in the dancing sense. They engage in "lots of wife-swapping," and reportedly did so in their garage the night Danielle disappeared. According to rumors circulating like mad on local talk shows and Internet bulletin boards, the van Dams lock their garage from the inside during their swingers’ parties to make sure Danielle and her two brothers don’t stumble in on the festivities.

That would explain why the van Dams might have failed to notice an intruder breaking into their home and walking off with their child. It also provides a motive for neighbor David Westerfield, the only suspect thus far identified by San Diego police. According to the rumorswhich are, it should be noted, only thatWesterfield was a frustrated, would-be swinger who wanted to attend the van Dams’ soirees, but was denied admission for lack of a partner.
(There was NO break in. If the van Dams were playing with the Jungle Jim and "swing set" in the garage the night Danielle went missing, then how was Westerfield able to enter the garage and sneak past the adults playing on the "swing set"?)

There’s more to the Westerfield angle: He saw Mrs. van Dam at the bar earlier in the evening, where, he claims, they danced (which she denies). He also high-tailed it out of San Diego and into the desert the next morning, which was enough to make police suspicious. So far, they have searched his home, where they found child pornography, and seized two of his vehicles, but they haven’t sought his arrest.
(Denied!! Not "don't recall" or can't remember, denied!)

It’s easy to speculate by connecting the dots: At the nightclub, Westerfield might have learned about the orgy planned later in the evening. Mindful that Danielle’s parents would be distracted, he could have used the opportunity to sneak into their home and take her, thereby satisfying his perverted sexual appetites and exacting revenge against the van Dams for not including him in theirs.

It’s just a theory, and it’s rooted purely in conjecture, but it’s also the best lead available so far, which raises a worthwhile question: Why have so many in the press, the national TV media in particular, been reluctant to pursue it?
(Sometimes certain people are protected for certain reasons. You and I are on a need to know basis and we don't need to know.)

Surely it’s not just that the stories are unsubstantiated. That, after all, never kept the media from investigating claims of Nicole Brown Simpson’s drug use, the basis of O.J. defenders’ absurd charge that drug lords were "the real killer."

For their part, the van Dams have yet to deny the innuendos categorically. Asked about the alleged swinging on a San Diego TV station, Mrs. van Dam replied that "rumors are rumors," and "they have absolutely nothing to do with this investigation.

(Insert quote from Duncan here...
"Yesterday Duncan said the couple's "lifestyle is not our focus. That is not the direction we are going to go; we want to solve this case."")

"Newsweek, one of few national media outlets that’s questioned the van Dams’ telling of events, quotes their spokeswoman, Sara Fraunces, as issuing the classic non-denial denial: The van Dams "do not lead a perfect lifestyle," she said, but that’s immaterial to the matter at hand.

(Insert quote from Fraunces here...
"They do not lead a perfect lifestyle. But they did not kill their daughter." • Feb 17, 2002 7:00 PM EST
Who or what suggested Danielle was dead by February 17th? The insects did, but Ms. Fraunces didn't have that information on February 17th.)

Fraunces no doubt chose her words carefully.
(Yeah, right.)

In the last 35 years, the term "lifestyle" has become not only the code word for any sort of sexual deviance, but also the quick way to claim a certain immunity from inconvenient questioning about it. This is the same logic Bill Clinton and his defenders used to rationalize perjury and lying to the American public, because it was "just about sex." For Gary Condit, it justified denying his affair to Washington police. His lifestyle took precedence over their duty to find Chandra Levy, dead or alive.

Like the "right to privacy" (a term invoked almost exclusively in sexual matters), the "lifestyle" claim is an appeal to the sexual revolution and its promise of an uninhibited sex life free of all responsibilities and moral judgment. It supersedes even laws, justice, or, in the case of Danielle van Dam and others, human life. To many of the reporters covering the van Dam story, the couple’s right to privacy similarly transcends the need for a complete and thorough investigation of their daughter’s disappearance.

But the couple’s "personal life" is a legitimate subject of inquiry, and not just for investigators. With their appeals to the press and calls for volunteers to help look for Danielle, the van Dams have made the investigation into their daughter’s kidnapping a very public affair. Privacy concerns should keep neither police nor reporters from pursuing all viable leads certainly not when there’s a chance Danielle may still be alive.

It may be, as Mrs. van Dam claims, that Danielle’s abduction has nothing to do with her parents’ sexual predilections, but at this point, there’s no way for the van Dams to know that for sure.

If they are lying about that Friday night’s events, then their credibility on all matters must be called into doubt. And even if they are telling the truth about that night, but they hosted sex parties in their home on others, that could yield a long list of potential suspects people with unhealthy sexual behaviors who know the lay of the house.

The fetishization of "privacy" shouldn’t keep the van Dams from being forthright, or preclude the press from doing its job. The life of a little girl is at stake.

Wednesday, February 13, 2002
The van Dams "do not lead a perfect lifestyle," she said, but that’s immaterial to the matter at hand.

Feb 17, 2002 7:00 PM EST
"They do not lead a perfect lifestyle. But they did not kill their daughter."

Feb 17, 2002 7:00 PM EST
By last weekend the case was becoming a major PR nightmare for the family. On Saturday morning the radio station's Web site was conducting an Internet poll, asking: "Now that you know about Danielle van Dam's parents' swinging lifestyle, should their other two children remain in the home?" Fraunces, the family's spokeswoman, stepped down, citing the need to spend more time with her own family; she was quickly replaced by Fleishman Hillard, one of the largest public-relations firms in the country.
(Say what? I think Ms. Fraunces let the cat out of the bag with her carefully chosen words on the 17th.
A clock and a calendar are a definite must when attempting to solve any crime.
Where do the coincidences end and the deception begin?)

Repost:http://forums.signonsandiego.com/sho...=62814&page=23
That's right. I forgot about DP's comment that Libby went to their "family" pastor for help with the donations.
DP also quotes Grandpa Cope as saying, "I can't believe someone broke into this house, and killed a little girl."
This was supposedly a quote to the press on Feb. 6th.
How the heck did I miss that? Why would he think Danielle was killed? Are there any press releases to support this quote? TIA. I'll have to see what I can find.

Date Feb. 22???:
Bejarano said police have no conclusive evidence on whether she is alive, but added, "As a father, I'm optimistic that at some point we will find Danielle."

Aired February 22, 2002 - 15:29 ET
"...And, as I mentioned earlier, we do have an article of clothing belonging to Danielle that we recovered from her bedroom that, again, without a question, provides that DNA link between Danielle and Mr. Westerfield..."
(Evidence to back this up? Danielle's underwear comes to mind? Is that where the evidence was discovered? Ooop, it's not from Westerfield is it? Ignore it and it will go away. Just not forever.)

UPDATED: 7:43 am PST February 27, 2002
"Danielle's blood was found in an article of clothing which belongs to Mr. Westerfield and also in his motor home," Bejarano said.

Different re-post:
"Newsweek, one of few national media outlets that’s questioned the van Dams’ telling of events, quotes their spokeswoman, Sara Fraunces, as issuing the classic non-denial denial: The van Dams "do not lead a perfect lifestyle," she said, but that’s immaterial to the matter at hand.

"They do not lead a perfect lifestyle. But they did not kill their daughter." • Feb 17, 2002 7:00 PM EST

Wednesday, February 13, 2002
The van Dams "do not lead a perfect lifestyle," she said, but that’s immaterial to the matter at hand.

Feb 17, 2002 7:00 PM EST
"They do not lead a perfect lifestyle. But they did not kill their daughter."

Feb 17, 2002 7:00 PM EST
By last weekend the case was becoming a major PR nightmare for the family. On Saturday morning the radio station's Web site was conducting an Internet poll, asking: "Now that you know about Danielle van Dam's parents' swinging lifestyle, should their other two children remain in the home?" Fraunces, the family's spokeswoman, stepped down, citing the need to spend more time with her own family; she was quickly replaced by Fleishman Hillard, one of the largest public-relations firms in the country.

August 2 2002
THE COURT: WELL, FRANKLY, I DON'T SEE THIS AS CAUSING A PROBLEM FOR EITHER SIDE BECAUSE THERE'S NO WAY -- WELL, I'M NOT GOING TO COMMENT ON ALL OF THE EVIDENCE THAT INDICATES THAT SHE WAS STILL ALIVE, BUT IT APPEARS TO ME THAT IT'S A PROPER STATEMENT OF THE LAW AND THAT THE INSTRUCTION, AS I READ IT, IN THE DEFINING PARAGRAPH, WHICH IS PARAGRAPH TWO OF 9.50, IT DOESN'T SPECIFICALLY STATE THAT.

June 27, 2002
At 2:30 in the morning on February 5, homicide investigators from the San Diego Police Department are standing outside David Westerfield’s house, preparing to go inside and search it. Sergeant Bill Holmes is one of the cops.
(How long does it take before homicide takes over when there has been no body recovered? 3 days? It happened here, didn't it?)

...Another source sees it differently: “Robbery did all the work, and homicide took all the glory. At one point, they were trying to give it to homicide, but they were backing away, [saying] ‘We don’t have a body yet.’”

Collins explains: "THE ROBBERY SECTION IS IN CHARGE OF INVESTIGATING ALL CRIMES INVOLVING COMMERCIAL ROBBERY, RESIDENTIAL ROBBERY, BANK ROBBERIES, AND KIDNAPPINGS WHERE THE VICTIM IS STILL OUTSTANDING."

Collins:
THE WITNESS: THEY DIDN'T REPORT THAT THEY HAD NOT FOUND ANY BODY, BUT I ASSUME IF THEY HAD THAT THEY WOULD HAVE NOTIFIED ME.

Posted: Friday, February 22, 2002 12:00 am
Bejarano said police have no conclusive evidence on whether she is alive, but added, "As a father, I'm optimistic that at some point we will find Danielle."

August 2 2002
THE COURT: WELL, FRANKLY, I DON'T SEE THIS AS CAUSING A PROBLEM FOR EITHER SIDE BECAUSE THERE'S NO WAY -- WELL, I'M NOT GOING TO COMMENT ON ALL OF THE EVIDENCE THAT INDICATES THAT SHE WAS STILL ALIVE, BUT IT APPEARS TO ME THAT IT'S A PROPER STATEMENT OF THE LAW AND THAT THE INSTRUCTION, AS I READ IT, IN THE DEFINING PARAGRAPH, WHICH IS PARAGRAPH TWO OF 9.50, IT DOESN'T SPECIFICALLY STATE THAT.
(There is absolutely NO proof Danielle was alive when she left the house!!! How would one prove Danielle's condition before she was taken or left the house?)

Date Feb. 22???:
Bejarano said police have no conclusive evidence on whether she is alive, but added, "As a father, I'm optimistic that at some point we will find Danielle."

Aired February 22, 2002 - 15:29 ET
"...And, as I mentioned earlier, we do have an article of clothing belonging to Danielle that we recovered from her bedroom that, again, without a question, provides that DNA link between Danielle and Mr. Westerfield..."
(Evidence to back this up? Danielle's underwear comes to mind? Is that where the evidence was discovered? Ooop, it's not from Westerfield is it? Ignore it and it will go away. Just not forever.)

UPDATED: 7:43 am PST February 27, 2002
"Danielle's blood was found in an article of clothing which belongs to Mr. Westerfield and also in his motor home," Bejarano said.

Different re-post:
"Newsweek, one of few national media outlets that’s questioned the van Dams’ telling of events, quotes their spokeswoman, Sara Fraunces, as issuing the classic non-denial denial: The van Dams "do not lead a perfect lifestyle," she said, but that’s immaterial to the matter at hand.

"They do not lead a perfect lifestyle. But they did not kill their daughter." • Feb 17, 2002 7:00 PM EST

Wednesday, February 13, 2002
The van Dams "do not lead a perfect lifestyle," she said, but that’s immaterial to the matter at hand.

Feb 17, 2002 7:00 PM EST
"They do not lead a perfect lifestyle. But they did not kill their daughter."

Feb 17, 2002 7:00 PM EST
By last weekend the case was becoming a major PR nightmare for the family. On Saturday morning the radio station's Web site was conducting an Internet poll, asking: "Now that you know about Danielle van Dam's parents' swinging lifestyle, should their other two children remain in the home?" Fraunces, the family's spokeswoman, stepped down, citing the need to spend more time with her own family; she was quickly replaced by Fleishman Hillard, one of the largest public-relations firms in the country.

August 2 2002
THE COURT: WELL, FRANKLY, I DON'T SEE THIS AS CAUSING A PROBLEM FOR EITHER SIDE BECAUSE THERE'S NO WAY -- WELL, I'M NOT GOING TO COMMENT ON ALL OF THE EVIDENCE THAT INDICATES THAT SHE WAS STILL ALIVE, BUT IT APPEARS TO ME THAT IT'S A PROPER STATEMENT OF THE LAW AND THAT THE INSTRUCTION, AS I READ IT, IN THE DEFINING PARAGRAPH, WHICH IS PARAGRAPH TWO OF 9.50, IT DOESN'T SPECIFICALLY STATE THAT.

February 15, 2002Four public relations specialists from the San Diego office of Fleishman-Hillard Inc. offered free advice to the Van Dams on how to handle the media horde and still keep the story alive, in hopes that might help bring Danielle home.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s the Defamation Lawsuit Being Brought
Against Nancy Grace by an Innocent Man

...35. Nancy Grace has engaged in a number of other persecutions that place Media Defendants on notice that she has a well-established pattern of making false accusations and defamatory statements. These include statements regarding Trayvon Martin, Danielle van Dam, Caylee Anthony, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, WWE wrestling deaths, and others.

Crime and evidenceDanielle was taken from her family's home in suburban San Diego last February. Nearly a month later, her nude body was found along a remote Southern California highway 25 miles away. Prosecutors said the girl had been assaulted.

The body of 14-year-old Amber Dubois was located early Saturday morning west of Pala Temecula Road, about three miles north of historic Pala Mission and roughly 25 miles from where the brown-haired, blue-eyed teen lived.

Danielle's body was found a short distance from a dirt road, and so was Amber's. And Chelsea King was from Poway, as was Danielle. But Gardner had an alibi for Danielle's kidnapping and murder: he was in jail.

February 15, 2002Four public relations specialists from the San Diego office of Fleishman-Hillard Inc. offered free advice to the Van Dams on how to handle the media horde and still keep the story alive, in hopes that might help bring Danielle home.

The LA Times reported that Westerfield cleaned his RV after a trip to the desert. Surprise, surprise. There’s a lot of sand in the desert.

It also reported that, after the van Dams took lie-detector tests, they were not suspects. So those tests are highly reliable?

It then stated that they may have brought strangers into their home, but they nevertheless didn’t want the focus of the investigation to be on their private lives. Their private lives could have provided the clue to where Danielle was. And that report was on 15 February, when she might still have been alive - and probably was.

I noted in particular their statement that Westerfield “had never been invited to their home”. Because Dusek, in his closing arguments, criticized Westerfield’s statement that he had never been invited in (see page 476 of “Rush to Judgement”).

Finally, the article states that Damon was “employed by a firm under contract to Qualcomm”. I had thought he was employed directly by Qualcomm. And I thought it strange that this was the second time he had worked there. It made me think he changed jobs rather often. I owe him an apology.

Her body was found on Hwy. 138 less than 24 hours after the call to Robin.

When the cameras showed Westerfield, she knew he was the killer.

Danielle Van Damme went missing on Friday night.

The child was not reported missing until Saturday.

She did not check on her kids before going to bed.

Her friend slept in a spare room.

At 9:15 am, a friend of Danielle Van Damme came by the house wanting to play.

The San Diego Police Department robbery unit handles abduction cases.

The goal was to polygraph everyone with ½ mile of the Van Damme residence.

Redden talks to David for 15 minutes and tags him as a suspect.

At 12 am, Tuesday morning, our speaker, Lt. Duncan, was called in for a briefing.

The police took photos and collected evidence from all over the house including the drain traps of the sink.

During the interview, David made smart *** remarks such as “You think you have the right guy, maybe you do.”

The motor home was towed to the impound yard and was processed for evidence.

Despite being at the cleaners, David’s jacket had blood on the left side. Later, it was shown to be Danielle Van Damme’s blood.

On February 27th, a search on Dehesa Road involving hundreds of volunteers was organized by reserve officers with cadaver dogs from Riverside Sheriff.

The lack of tissue made it impossible to tell if Danielle had been sexually assaulted.

It was felt that she was probably strangled and or suffocated.

DA Paul Pfingst was just about to make a deal with Steve Feldman, David’s lawyer. The deal was life without parole in exchange for revealing the location of the body. But, the body was literally found at the exact time of the offer. The deal was off.

The difficulties of this case was that there were multiple crime scenes. Keeping items separate and keeping them from contamination were challenges.
(Can you separate the fact from fiction? Which items fit and which items don't? Is it possible for those items that don't fit to be inserted and then other items evaluated to determine whether they still fit the theory or not?)